The present invention relates to an animation display processor for displaying animation through a plurality of windows on a display.
Recently, many technologies for displaying animation on a display of a workstation, etc. have been developed.
Among the prior art technologies of such animation display processes, the most popular method is to generate an image as a bit map, etc. on a screen in a time series based on a predetermined time unit and to sequentially display generated images on a display. In this case, the animation is displayed independently through each window on the display.
Another technology for the animation display process is described as follows: First, the state of a screen at a predetermined time is somehow expressed in terms of data. Then, the state of a screen at a later time is likewise expressed in terms of data. These two blocks of data are used to calculate the data expressing a screen state at any time point between the above two time points. Thus, the obtained screen state at each time is sequentially displayed on a display, thereby displaying animation on the display. In this case, the animation can also be displayed independently through each window on the display.
In the above described prior art technologies, since related animation cannot be simultaneously shown on a display, there is a problem in that the utilization of animation at a workstation, etc. is necessarily limited. For example, when an operational explanation of a software of a computer system is displayed, it is assumed to be easily explained if the explanatory sentences and the corresponding animation can be synchronously displayed. However, a synchronous operation cannot be performed by the above described prior art technologies for independently displaying animation through each window.
Besides, in the animation display process of the prior art technologies, animation is displayed in series on a display as if a roll of film were being driven. Therefore, both the content of the animation display and the utilization of animation at a workstation, etc. are large extent. For example, suppose that an operational explanation of a software of a computer system is desired to be displayed on a screen with the animation. In this case, the above described synchronous operation can never be performed because the content of the animation cannot be dynamically modified when a detailed explanation must be added to a user-specified explanatory representation.
In the animation display process of the prior art technologies, animation is collectively managed and displayed as in a film operation. Therefore, the animation data must be properly edited after the required data are extracted from a large volume of data so that a part of the content of the animation may be modified, thus causing trouble to an operator.